In 1960, John Moriarty was the first Indigenous Australian selected to represent the national team. That he never actually got to play was due to Australia’s expulsion from FIFA. However, Moriarty’s later life transcended football due to his later contribution as an activist for Indigenous rights and arts.
Born in 1938 in Borroloola in Australia’s Northern Territory, Moriarty’s mother was a tribal Aboriginal and his father an Irishman from County Kerry. Because of state and government policies, he was removed from his mother, aged four. He was part of Australia’s ‘Stolen Generation’ – aboriginal children who were placed in state institutions with the aim of acculturating them to white Australian society. The practice of separation only ended in the 1970s. It took until 2008 before the Australian Federal Government officially apologised to the ‘Stolen Generation’.
Moriarty was reunited with his mother when he was 15 and reconnected with his family. He is a full member of the Yanyuwa people, his skin name is Bulenyi, his cultural name is Kundereri, and he belongs to the Rainbow Snake and Kangaroo Dreamings.
Moriarty’s talent for football had been spotted at St. Francis House in Adelaide, a home for Aboriginal boys. He played for several local teams – Port Thistle, Adelaide Juventus and Adelaide Croatia. He also represented South Australia on 17 occasions but was forced to retire in 1965 due to a career-ending injury. Moriarty later joined the board of Adelaide Juventus.
Following retirement, Moriarty became an important advocate for Aboriginal rights. Before receiving a BA honours degree from Flinders University in 1970, he was a founding member of South Australia’s Aborigines’ Progress Association, which fought for land rights in 1964. Three years later, he campaigned for Aboriginal people to become Australian citizens in a referendum. He later held executive positions in federal and state departments of the Aboriginal Affairs sector.
In addition, Moriarty established foundations for Aborigines in football and the arts. An artist himself, in 1983 he founded the Balarinji Design Studio, which painted two Qantas jets with Aboriginal motifs in 1994. John Moriarty Football promotes grassroots participation and scholarships for young Indigenous footballers and, in 2021, it promoted gender equality among Indigenous girls and women.
In 2000, he became a member of the Order of Australia and was highly commended by the Australian Human Rights Commission Literary Awards, while, in 2015, he was inducted into Football Australia’s Hall of Fame.